A Chevy LeCar? Say it ain't so ...

Posters cringe at potential GM deal with Renault, Nissan

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Watching one of America's legendary corporate icons die a slow, painful death at the hands of foreign competitors is one thing. But having the French come to the rescue? That notion was just too much for the peanut gallery to bear.

In what one blogger said would create the Axis of Average, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian urged General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner to consider a three-way partnership with France's Renault and Japan's Nissan. See full story.

With shares of GM
GM, -1.38%
logging double-digit gains, plenty of investors out there ate up the news. But you wouldn't know it from the sentiment in cyberspace.

"Hmmm, take one part top U.S. car manufacturer, add one part bottom-tier Japanese company and a pinch of French engineering mastery, and what do you get? A Chevy LeCar? A Peugeot Impala? No thank you," posted PuffChippy on AutoBlog.com. Go to site.

"GM is well on its way back to auto-market domination, so why in the world would it be looking for the quick out?" he added. "Oh, right, so Kerkorian can cash out. Never mind."

Jeff55 joined the head-scratching masses across the Web: "So how will adding brands, production capacity and employees help General Motors?"

Over on Fark.com, RedRocker5152 answered his own question: "To sell out to the French, or to be bought out by the Japanese? Nay, do both in one stroke." See Fark.com.

In defense of General Motors, the automaker -- which was quick to point out that no deal is in the offing -- has made strides to right the ship after its $10.6 billion loss in 2005. The company turned a profit for the first time in six quarters earlier this year, and attempts to pare its workforce by sending blue-collar workers into retirement were successful.

The strides come as GM shares have outperformed all other blue-chip stocks since the beginning of the year, with a 50% surge.

But any sort of virtual enthusiasm conjured by those developments didn't do much to dull the edge of industry observes like CarQwik, who were quick to back the pump-the-stock angle:

"The only thing left to sell is the intellectual property -- stuff for powertrains, engine management, emission control, etc. -- which Renault (013190) may need," he posted.

"Keep in mind that Nissan wants to build big trucks now. So here's a way to disguise the sale of the intellectual property, get cash into GM and provide an opportunity for Kirk to unload before the ship really sinks."

The same tone spilled over to Yahoo's frenetic message boards, where McNote5150 called it a preemptive strike: "Only fools will buy [Kerkorian's] desperate attempt to get back to his $31 tender offer. He's looking for an exit. June sale number must be worst then thought."

More of the same from Weyqyqr: "Nissan has enough trouble by itself. Sure, they'll maybe look at GM, but it will not take long to decide that GM has nothing good to offer. This whole letter thing is a last-ditch effort to boost the price in the short term." Visit Yahoo's boards.

While many pointed fingers and mulled Kerkorian's motives, others took the opportunity to, once again, bash the company that brought us the Pontiac Aztec.

This from Theorellior: "Might be the best thing for that lumbering, dying beast." And FooMonkey followed up on the death theme: "If he's buying GM, he should change his name to Kevorkian."

Elsewhere, Blindman saved a jab for Nissan Motors
NSANY, -1.13%
: "Hooray! GM should get bought out by another automaker run only slightly better than they are. That way we can read about an even bigger looming bankruptcy again in a few years."

As for the next chapter, JCWhitless offered this: "Why don't Ford and GM get in together? Heck, it couldn't hurt at this point... [I'm] waiting for Toyota to buy one of them lock, stock and barrel."

Would GM benefit from such a deal with Renault and Nissan? Will Kerkorian again get his way? Share your thoughts in MarketWatch's General Motors discussion group. Click here.

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